Number of refugees worldwide 'highest since WWII'

More than 50 million people had been forced from their homes worldwide at the end of last year, the United Nations refugee agency has said.

Number of refugees worldwide 'highest since WWII'

More than 50 million people had been forced from their homes worldwide at the end of last year, the United Nations refugee agency has said.

The total number of displaced is the highest since the Second World War.

The daunting figure is also a stark reflection of the ongoing conflicts and persecutions from Syria to South Sudan. It includes refugees and asylum-seekers who fled abroad as well as people displaced within their own countries.

The UNHCR’s annual Global Trends Report, published in Beirut today, says 51.2 million people had been forcibly displaced by the end of 2013 – six million more than at the end of the previous year.

The data is compiled from government, non-government partner organisations and UNHCR’s own records.

Syria’s civil war alone has forced nine million people to flee their homes.

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